Contents

Overview of Consultation

The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 ('the Act')
provides a statutory right of access to information held by
Scottish public authorities. The provisions of the Act can be
extended to bodies that appear to the Scottish Ministers to
exercise functions of a public nature or which provide, under a
contract with a Scottish public authority, a service which is a
function of that authority.

Over a 12 week period the Scottish Government consulted on
proposals to extend coverage of the Act to Registered Social
Landlords (
RSLs) on the
basis that
RSLs
undertake functions of a public nature.

Published responses to the consultation are available on the
relevant Scottish Government webpage
[1].

A clear majority of consultation responses - including from
tenant organisations and the local authorities which replied -
favoured extending coverage to
RSLs.
Organisations including the Scottish Council for Voluntary
Organisations, Unite the Union, Unison Scotland, the Scottish
Information Commissioner and the Campaign for Freedom of
Information in Scotland also supported the proposals.

Responses from the
RSLs (and
their representative organisations - the Scottish Federation of
Housing Associations and Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of
Housing Associations) ranged from those supporting the consultation
proposals to those (the majority) against. Neither the Chartered
Institute of Housing Scotland nor the Council of Mortgage Lenders
favoured extending the Act to
RSLs.

Most individuals who responded to the consultation supported
extension of coverage to
RSLs.

A summary of consultation responses forms part of this interim
report.

This report also provides a brief overview of the key issues
coming out of the consultation exercise as well as the proposed
next steps prior to a formal response to the consultation.